He pursued the conquest of Britain and under the leadership of his son Titus, the Roman legions ended the uprising in Judea.ĭomestically, he forced a return to the rule of law, which his predecessors had often ignored. With sure instincts he reformed the army, reduced the number of legions and ensured a better mix in the different sections, so that no tribe would gain dominance in a legion.
Vespasianus was proclaimed princeps, but he only returned to the capital in the summer of 70 AD.
Following a failed attempt to bribe the opponent Vitellius into giving up, Mucianus and his men conquered Rome in December 69 in bloody battles, in which Vitellius was brutally tortured and thrown into the Tiber river. Another insurgent legion that joined Vespasianus marched to Rome from the Danube river. While Mucianus ferried over to Italy with a legion to take over Rome, Vespasianus himself traveled to Egypt, in order to take control of the grain supplies to the capital.
#Pecunia non olet meaning full#
Even some client kings accepted his claim to power and so he commanded the full power of all the southern legions and substantial financial means from tribute payments. When the governor of the Egyptian province also joined the ranks of his supporters, at the beginning of July 69 AD, he was proclaimed emperor by his legions and those of his allies. Instead he rallied his supporters, among them Gaius Licinius Mucianus, the governor of Syria. He also remained in the background after the assassination of Galba, although he didn’t accept either Otho or Vitellius, the candidates to become the next ruler. By doing this, he indirectly acknowledged Galba as the new emperor. He sent his son Titus to Rome to the successor Galba, to have his command confirmed. Following Nero’s suicide in 68 AD, Vespasianus treaded carefully. Vespasianus commanded three legions in Judea, 60,000 men in total, and he waged war for years, without sparing the civilian population. This was an important aspect, since the legions already began to object to Nero’s way of rule. For Nero he was a loyal, experienced military follower, who was not yet a compromised favorite. After letting him wait for some time, in 62 AD Nero made him proconsul of the province of Africa and sent him into battle against the insurgent population of the Judea province as a commander. Under Emperor Claudius, Vespasianus served in the military in Germania and took part in the conquest of Britain. Since all public posts in Rome were honorary posts, ambitious aristocrats needed to have solid financial means to be able to afford the path to power and influence.
He served with considerable success in his positions within the army and the public administration of the provinces, whereas, in contrast to the customs of many of his colleagues, he did not overly enrich himself. Since about the 5th century BC, this career path was the approved way to the highest state offices, the magistrate, and since about 180 BC, the cursus was even compulsory. So Titus Flavius Vespasianus also pursued a career in that field on his “cursus honorum”. The families however retained their political privileges and had access to public offices and a career in the state’s administration.īut his family had ambitions one uncle had already become senator and Vespasian’s older brother worked in the Roman administration. Originally they fought as cavalry in wars, but during the reign of emperors this duty was relinquished. It was not part of the Roman upper class of senators, but belonged to the Eques, the lower nobility, instead.Īt the time of the republic, rich middle class Romans, who could afford horses, formed the class of the Eques, the “horse-riders”. The family did not hail from Rome, but from Latium province north of the capital. His talent for finances may result from his lineage, because Titus Flavius Vespasian was the son of a tax collector. Vespasian adjusted the state’s finances, consolidated the empire and was characterized by his well-grounded attitude, sense of duty and humor – and he had no inhibitions to even use “disreputable” sources to stabilize the Rome’s finances. He came to power as the last ruler in the four-emperor-year of 69 AD and stabilized Rome after an extended phase of mismanagement by changing rulers. This saying was coined by Roman Emperor Vespasian. But how exactly did this saying come about? “Money doesn’t stink” – Gold is (at least for humans) odorless, so goes the platitude.
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